Zilkha Center for the Environment

This first episode is about being queer, and being a body. It’s about our relationships and relationality.

More than anything, it’s about getting over habits, and being a good friend.

Friends are family, and so much here. They help us understand how to give, and how to take. They’re our support, they amplify our toxic behavior. They shape who we are.

Part is a conversation with Joseph Messer, losely titled “Don’t Fall in love with Straight Men.” Part Two is some spicy original nonfiction written by me, a love letter, and a goodbye letter.

A manifesto. How to show up in a new space, and make it your own. This episode is about dismantling the system from within the system. It’s about coming into an alien space, and making it your own. It’s about destiny meeting inertia.

Part I is an orientation to environmental justice. Part II is a story about finding your way on an alien planet. It’s a story that will feel too familiar, or brand new.

I wanted to make a podcast about sustainability, without science. This is useful beyond the fact that I am an English major who knows almost nothing useful about science. Consider: what is science without people? Without us? There’s something so external, so relational, so social, about our relationship to the earth, and to each other.

I need to capture this as a sound and emotion, through storytelling. Radio is a visual medium, and I want to take you on a meditative, emotional journey into the habitual. What can utopia/liberation feel like? Sound like? How to we acclimate ourselves to it?

The stories on the show explore environmental justice, and what it means to us in our day-to-day lives. I talked to people about their most beautiful, complicated friendships. I collected memoirs from a friend about dealing with her own internalized self-hatred. It’s was a total honor and journey to edit this material, compose the music, and (finally!) put it all out there. I learned so much through the entire process and am so excited to share it with the world.

"Podcasts from the Farm" is a series of audio stories created by Williams College students in a Winter Study course taught by Mike Evans, the assistant director at the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives. Students attended the Northeast Organic Farming Association's 2018 Winter Conference, interviewed farmers and other food and farming movers & shakers, and created their own podcast episodes. We hope you enjoy! Feel free to share any and all audio stories that you find compelling.

What the heck is urban homesteading? This podcast will explore that question along with other big ideas such as: How can we live sustainably in an urban environment? What lessons about the environment can we learn from other cultures? How do we instill these values in our children, our communities?

Listen to my conversations with Dan Bensonoff, Kesiah Bascom, and Kristin Brennan. Hope you enjoy!

Producer Bio - Kaira Mediratta

Hi! I'm Kaira, and I'm a freshman at Williams. I am originally from NYC so, for this podcast, I was drawn to the idea of sustainability in the city and what that looks like. I really do love the abundance of nature and farms in the Berkshires, though, which I think has been a big factor in trying to choose a major (I'm thinking environmental science or art history). Beyond these things, you can usually find me doing yoga or hanging out at WCMA (the Williams College Museum of Art).

Credits

https://freesound.org/people/Dvideoguy/sounds/246315/

https://freesound.org/people/folkart%20films/sounds/122767/

https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-podcasts-2